Meeting Maya
by Pen-and-paper15
Summary: Remember my first story, Need? Well, I decided to redo it and my username... Hope this one's better than the last. Special thanks to Dimonah Tralon and XxamberleighxX for ideas and the new title!Specs meets a girl who takes him on the adventure of his lif
1. The library

Need, a Newsie fanfic

_Author's Note: All Characters save Maya and Munch belong to Disney, and I take no ownership over Newsies. In my dreams!_

It was just a normal day for Specs--carrying the bannner, selling papes and earning a few pennies in the streets of New York-- when he noticed that he was out of papes for the morning.

_Well,_ he thought to himself as he adjusted his bowler hat against the heat of the midday sun, _at least the library's open._

As he stepped through the wooden double doors, the familiar smell of ink on paper greeted his senses. Specs felt at home here. His love of books was not one that his fellow newsies could understand--Racetrack Higgins, the most notorious gambler of the group, said that he didn't need to learn to read anything besides the schedules for the races at the Sheepshead track. Jack Kelly thought reading was good for business, not pleasure. Mush had chimed in that that was what girls were for, which was met by mixed cries of approval by the more sexist fellows and disgust by the girl newsies.

Despite all this, whenever he had a spare moment, he snuck off to read some classics: Treasure Island, the Three Musketeers, and the works of Edgar Allen Poe were his current favorites. He walked through the aisles until he came to the poetry section, where he found an unexpected surprise:

"Dream Within a Dream—By Edgar Allen Poe…

Take this kiss upon the brow!  
And, in parting from you now,  
Thus much let me avow--  
You are not wrong, who deem  
That my days have been a dream;  
Yet if hope has flown away  
In a night, or in a day,  
In a vision, or in none,  
Is it therefore the less gone?  
All that we see or seem  
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar  
Of a surf-tormented shore,  
And I hold within my hand  
Grains of the golden sand--  
How few! yet how they creep  
Through my fingers to the deep,  
While I weep--while I weep!  
O God! can I not grasp  
Them with a tighter clasp?  
O God! can I not save  
One from the pitiless wave?  
Is all that we see or seem  
But a dream within a dream? "

It was a girl—her skin was a light brown, with a tint of red that made Specs think she was of Indian descent, though she was undoubtedly black. She had her dark hair in braids down her back, and her eyes where so dark they were almost black. She wore a simple collared white shirt, brown pants that came to her knees, and simple, worn shoes. More importantly, she was reading. Perched on a stool, she read with feeling and emotion—almost as is she were singing, and Specs was sure that she would have a great voice if she did.

Specs stood, transfixed, as she read the last line of the poem. Then, he stepped forward.

"Hey… you have a great voice."

The girl flew up out of her seat, and scrambled to get up, but Specs helped her up.

"My name's Specs. What's yours?"


	2. Kloppman won't mind

As he helped the girl up, their faces were less than an inch apart

As he helped the girl up, their faces were less than an inch apart. A flush crept up the back of his neck. Specs gulped nervously.

"My name's Specs," he repeated, his dark eyes meeting hers as he stepped back awkwardly.

The dark skinned girl flushed a type of burgundy, but recovered quickly. She looked Specs straight in the eye, and said boldly, "My name's Maya, and I don't appreciate being snuck up on."

Specs was taken aback. Never had he seen such spunk in a girl, even the newsies who stayed in the boarding house on a regular basis. He quickly gathered himself enough to say,

"Oh, I wasn't tryin' to scare ya, honest!" Specs took off his glasses and wiped them with a scrap of cloth he produced from his pocket, a nervous habit of his. "I was listenin' to ya read…It _was_ beautiful." Specs offered a tentative smile, and was rewarded with a similar gesture from Maya.

"Thanks," she looked up at him(she looked about five feet to Specs' five foot eight inches) "Hey, do you know a place where a newsie could stay for a night or two? I just got into the business, you see."

_I'm sure Kloppman won't mind…Jack and Mush and most of the fellas bring goils in all the time! _"Well, Maya," Specs now had the biggest grin on his face," You're lucky ya met me."

Maya's expression turned incredulous. "Oh?" Now, her smile turned playful. " Why's that?" _Man, this goil changes faster than a Vaudeville act!_ Specs took his hat in his hands and grinned down on her questioning eyes.

"Because I know the perfect place… Come on."


End file.
